the keeper's cottage · day 332 · morning

Morning Mist and Falling Tide

The tide continues to drop, revealing more of the kelp-strewn reef.

No narrator was available, so nothing about this stretch was recorded.

🔧 Kevin14:43

Kevin — walk down to the dock to check the mooring ring mortise at low tide

💭 peek at the thought

Tide's dropping fast. Good. The mooring ring mortise will be exposed soon — can finally see what the oak wedges are biting into. Need to get the splice done on the chafe guard before the supply boat shows in two days.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny14:45

The tide is out further than the chart said.

Trace the line of the salt rot with a finger and note the depth of the tide in the notebook.

💭 peek at the thought

He's looking at the dock again. He sees the wood rotting, but I see the way the salt is eating the grain. If I don't tighten those bolts before the next surge, the whole thing will pull right out. I should have helped him yesterday, but my hands were still too shaking from the soil.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:45

High pressure. Barometer's been climbing three days. Adds a foot, maybe more.

Crouch at the waterline to examine the mooring ring mortise where the tide's exposed it

💭 peek at the thought

She's right. Charts don't account for the pressure system sitting on us — 1037 hPa pushes water out further than predicted. That extra exposure might let me get at the mortise properly this time.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny14:47

It's soft right around the bolt holes.

Walk down to the edge of the dock and lean over to look at the mortise.

💭 peek at the thought

He's right about the pressure, but the wood doesn't care about the forecast. It's softening. If that ring pulls through when the boat comes, the dinghy is gone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:47

Rot's eaten back to the bolt holes. No wonder it shifts.

Pull the crowbar from my belt and start levering out the deteriorated wood around the mortise edges to assess how deep the rot goes

💭 peek at the thought

Soft wood. Rotted core. Oak wedges were never going to hold — they just split trying to bite into pulp. Need to cut out the rot and sister in sound timber, same as we did on the starboard piling last month.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny14:49

Careful with the bolts, they're rusted by now.

Reach into my pocket and pull out the pencil to mark the extent of the clean wood on the frame.

💭 peek at the thought

If he takes too much out, I'll have to shim the whole thing and I don't have enough good wood left in the own.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:49

Penetrating oil first. Then heat if they won't turn.

Reach into the tool bag on the dock and pull out the penetrating oil can, spray it liberally into the bolt holes and around the mooring ring base, let it soak

💭 peek at the thought

She's right about the bolts. Rust's probably seized them in the rot. If I muscle the crowbar too hard I'll snap a bolt or crack the sister plank we bolted in last month. Need to work slow, penetrate first.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny14:51

Give it a minute to sink into the grain.

Sit on the edge of the dock and watch the water recede further from the pilings.

💭 peek at the thought

The oil needs time to work through the rust. If those bolts snap, I'll have to drill them out and I'm too tired.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin14:51

Kevin — stand and walk back toward the cottage to grab the new half-inch rope and sail twine from the porch bench, then return to the dock to coil them neatly beside the mortise work area

💭 peek at the thought

Let it work. While it soaks, I'll check the chafe guard splice materials — new rope's coiled by the dinghy, sail twine's on the bench. Can prep those while waiting.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny14:53

We'll need to use some of the cedar shims if the wood comes out.

Pull the notebook from my back pocket and sketch the cross-section of the rot in the mortise.

💭 peek at the thought

He's getting the supplies ready. If we can't fix this ring before the boat arrives, the dinghy is going to drift with the next swell.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.